IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline: October 17th, 2025 5pm (Paris time) 
🔴 New submission deadline: October 21th, 2025 5pm (Paris time) 🔴 
Results Notification :  December 31st, 2025

For all inquiries, please contact submission-dataia@inria.fr.

Call Context

The DataIA Institute is the Artificial Intelligence Institute of the Université Paris-Saclay. Winner of the “Instituts Convergences” call for projects launched by the French National Research Agency (ANR) in 2017, the DataIA Institute has brought together the artificial intelligence (AI) expertise of the Paris-Saclay ecosystem to strengthen interdisciplinary collaborations between institutions in data science and AI.

Since January 2021, the Institute has focused its activities on Université Paris-Saclay's perimeter of excellence, and embodies its AI, research and training strategy. France's leading artificial intelligence ecosystem, the Institute federates and structures multidisciplinary expertise to develop cutting-edge research in data science, in conjunction with other disciplines, notably the humanities and social sciences.

The Institute mobilizes over 800 teacher-researchers from 47 laboratories (15% of which are international) within the perimeter of the Université Paris-Saclay. 
In May 2024, the Institute was officially awarded the “AI-Cluster” label by the French government. 
This call for proposals aims to support AI research via the IA Modular Chairs Call.

Scientific scope and objectives

Proposals submitted must clearly demonstrate their alignment with the scientific objectives of the DataIA Institute, and in particular with the themes and priorities of the AI Cluster (see Appendix 1 of the call).

Particular attention will be paid to projects that fit into at least one of the four main thematic axes of the IA Cluster.

How to submit a project

This call is exclusively dedicated to collaborative projects, involving at least two scientific sponsors. Only laboratories belonging to the partner institutions defined in the funding agreement are eligible to carry out the project and manage the allocated funds (see Appendix 2 of the call).

External partners may be associated with the consortium, but are not eligible for funding and must have their own financial resources.

Particular attention will be paid to projects meeting one of the following criteria:

1. Projects led by two different institutions in the DataIA academic ecosystem (see Appendix 2), and two different DataIA-affiliated laboratories;

2. Projects integrating an industrial partner from DataIA's industrial affiliation program (PAI), and contributing co-funding;

3. Projects collaborating with laboratories from other AI Clusters, with independent funding.

Funding and budget conditions

The aim of this call for proposals is to support research activities carried out within the DataIA framework, by financing the projects selected (personnel, operating costs).

• The budget requested may not exceed €500,000 per project involving at least two promoters from two different institutions in the DataIA ecosystem (see Appendix 2);

• In the case of a project involving a DataIA laboratory and an external partner, the budget may not exceed €250,000, and proof of additional funding from the external partner is required.

Terms of Call

Submission of proposals

Applications must include:

• a scientific description of the project,

• a financial appendix.

Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

Format, evaluation criteria and submission procedures

Evaluation criteria will focus on :

• scientific excellence,

• synergy between partners,

• and the potential impact of the application on the chosen theme.

   

👉 All projects must be submitted through the Microsoft CMT platform, using the response template provided here 

Acknowledgement

The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.

📧 For any questions: submission-dataia@inria.fr.

📅 Call Timeline

- Closing date: October 21, 2025 at 5pm (Paris time)
- Announcement of results: end December 2025
- Start of funding: January 2026

A second call will have its closing date in spring 2026.

Selection process

The IA DataIA Cluster Research Committee (COMR) will examine the eligibility of projects and appoint external experts for evaluation.
On the basis of this expertise, the COMR will draw up a ranking recommendation for the Steering Committee (COPIL), which will make the final decision.
Decisions will be made by the end of December 2025.

Duration and validity of funding

Selected projects will be funded for a period of 4 years, ending on December 31, 2029.

Commitments of project leaders

Doctoral students recruited for the projects must be enrolled in one of the Université Paris-Saclay doctoral schools supporting AI research.
Project leaders undertake to use the funding in accordance with the description in the application.

Each year, they must submit a scientific and financial report, validated by the DataIA research committee.
At the end of the project, a final report must be submitted to the DataIA Institute, summarizing the project's results and publications.

In the event of non-compliance with commitments or failure to use funds in accordance with the submitted project, reimbursement may be demanded.
Similarly, any unused funding must be repaid by the beneficiary institution.

Frequently asked questions

• Is this funding for collaborative projects?
  Yes. The project can have several Principal Investigators (PI) but DataIA will fund up to two PI from DataIA-Cluster partner institutions (see list on the text of the call).
   
• Are submissions with a single PI accepted?
  No, projects need to be collaborative.
   
• Can I have a partner who is not in the list of DataIA-Cluster partner institutions?
  Yes! but they have to contribute at least the same amount of funding. E.g.: if the DataIA partner is asking for funding for one PhD, the external partner has to fund another PhD.
   
• What’s the maximum funding per PI? 
  Up to 250k€ for a single PI of DataIA Partner Institution, 500k€ for two PI of DataIA Partner Institutions.
   
• Can I fund a PhD, post-doc, or engineer with this funding scheme?
  Yes, all three cases are compatible with the funding. The funded PhD student must enroll in one of the doctoral schools of Université Paris-Saclay.
   
• Can I fund travel or equipment?
  Yes. For travel expenses, we recommend that the requested amount does not exceed 10% of the total funding.
   
• Is there different priority for new or established collaborations?
  No.
   
• If we are two PI from different institutions, e.g. CNRS and UPS, but we are members of the same lab and in the same research team, can we submit? 
  No, your proposal will not be considered as a collaborative project.
   
• If we are two PI from different institutions, e.g. CNRS and UPS, but we are members of different research teams in the same lab, can we submit? 
  Yes, you are invited to submit. The call focuses on scientific excellence but please keep in mind that the jury will also assess collaborations between two PI from different research teams, different labs and different institutions, which might have a particular attention.
   

• If I work in a lab hosted by one partner of the ecosystem, e.g. ENS, but my employer is different, e.g. Inria, to which  establishment do I belong?
  You belong to the institute that employs you. Still, you must describe in detail your situation in the submitted project.

   

• How many pages should my proposal have ?

  Below are the recommended page limits for each section of the proposal
  I. Proposal’s context, positioning and objective(s) [4.5 pages]
  II. Partnership [0.5 page]
  III. Biographical Sketches for the Principal Investigators (PIs) [2 pages per PI]
  IV. Budget [1 Page]
  V. References [2 pages]